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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1259050" data-attributes="member: 812">Exactly one of the things I wanted to address on Barsoom. When I was first developing the campaign, I knew I wanted a magic system that would frighten and startle and give the players a sense of wonder -- something that D&D magic's not very good at.So I didn't let the players take magic-using classes -- indeed, I told them at the outset that there was NO magic on Barsoom (I'm a DM. I lie.). When they first encountered the supernatural, it really freaked them out and we had GREAT fun with PCs having nervous breakdowns, turning into alcoholics and other strange behaviour developing (see the Story Hour for details -- some of that is just starting to emerge in the most recent episodes).It's gotten less and less "magical", however, as they've learned more about the system and started using it themselves. I've kept portions of the rules to myself, however, and so they still keep encountering things that their knowledge doesn't explain.It's a really hard thing to balance, though -- the mix of consistent game rules and wonder-inducing mystery. The players have to know ENOUGH that they feel like there's SOME predictability to it, but they have to NOT know enough to feel like they're only scratching the surface.As a DM, you have to really WANT this effect, because you will end up spending a lot of time re-jiggering stuff to keep the balance right. I do, anyway.Actually, I disagree with you. Simply reducing the power level doesn't create a sense of mystery -- if the players still know all the rules, magic remains the straightforward application of rules that it is in standard D&D. If you really want to have your player's eyes widen in wonder as some NPC casts a spell, you have to yank the rug out from under their expectations as to how it ought to work.Which, like I said above, is a full-time job to keep under control.</blockquote>

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